Publisher's Synopsis
My friend, if cause doth wrest thee, Ere folly hath much oppressed thee, Far from acquaintance kest theeWhere country may digest thee...Thank God that so hath blessed thee, And sit down, Robin, and rest thee.-THOMAS TUSSER.It came without warning, at the very hour his hand was outstretched to crumple the Holz andGunsberg Combine. The New York doctors called it overwork, and he lay in a darkened room, oneankle crossed above the other, tongue pressed into palate, wondering whether the next brain-surgeof prickly fires would drive his soul from all anchorages. At last they gave judgment. With care hemight in two years return to the arena, but for the present he must go across the water and do nowork whatever. He accepted the terms. It was capitulation; but the Combine that had shiveredbeneath his knife gave him all the honours of war: Gunsberg himself, full of condolences, came tothe steamer and filled the Chapins' suite of cabins with overwhelming flower-works."Smilax," said George Chapin when he saw them. "Fitz is right. I'm dead; only I don't see why heleft out the 'In Memoriam' on the ribbons!""Nonsense!" his wife answered, and poured him his tincture. "You'll be back before you canthink."He looked at himself in the mirror, surprised that his face had not been branded by the hells ofthe past three months. The noise of the decks worried him, and he lay down, his tongue only a littlepressed against his palate.An hour later he said: "Sophie, I feel sorry about taking you away from everything like this. I-Isuppose we're the two loneliest people on God's earth to-night."Said Sophie his wife, and kissed him: "Isn't it something to you that we're going together?"They drifted about Europe for months-sometimes alone, sometimes with chance met gipsies oftheir own land. From the North Cape to the Blue Grotto at Capri they wandered, because the nextsteamer headed that way, or because some one had set them on the road. The doctors had warnedSophie that Chapin was not to take interest even in other men's interests; but a familiar sensation atthe back of the neck after one hour's keen talk with a Nauheimed railway magnate saved her anytrouble. He nearly wept."And I'm over thirty," he cried. "With all I meant to do!""Let's call it a honeymoon," said Sophie. "D' you know, in all the six years we've been married, you've never told me what you meant to do with your life?""With my life? What's the use? It's finished now." Sophie looked up quickly from the Bay ofNaples. "As far as my business goes, I shall have to live on my rents like that architect at SanMor
